A long-found love affair

A photo on Chris Rycroft's iPhone depicts him swinging a golf club at age two and a half.

The picture is also in the Rycroft home, which his parents, David and Lisa, see each day.

Only now, they see a more polished swing taken by a high school senior intent on excelling at golf now and beyond.

In his first year of high school golf, Chris Rycroft is a valuable asset to Woodbridge. He is strong off the tee, helping to put himself in position to make short putts when the ball reaches the green.

"I feel if I can get myself in good position to start the hole, I can proceed with quality shots," Ry-croft said. "For me, it's about starting the hole on a good note. So I think I focus on driving more because that's how my mind works."

Golf has always been one of Rycroft's loves. He just hadn't played it in high school due to his involvement on Woodbridge's drum line.

But his commitment to golf is showing after deciding to pass on drum line this year. Rycroft placed 10th at the Stafford Invitational and 18th at the Serv-Pro Invitational, a large high school tournament north of Rich-mond.

He has impressive showings in two Cardinal District tri-matches, with the most notable coming Sept. 10 against Forest Park and Potomac.

Woodbridge and Forest Park both finished with a team total of 177, so the match went to a playoff. But it ended with Rycroft making his third par on the third playoff hole to give the Vikings the victory.

He followed on Monday by shooting a 43 as Woodbridge finished with a 166 to take a match against Hylton and Potomac.

"After playing the nine holes in the match [on Sept. 10], my morale was very low," Rycroft said. "I had not played well.

"When I found out we had tied and we were going into a playoff, I walked up to my coach [Darin Snoots] and requested that I play in the playoff because I feel I excel in pressure golf. I love pressure and I love the competitiveness."

That comes from being around the game for most of his life and having his father David, Osprey Golf Club's director of golf, providing tips on improving when Chris became serious about learning golf. David told his son to hit the ball hard. Don't worry about accuracy and direction. And practice as much as possible.

"Right as I began, he really started helping me because he obviously saw it was something I loved," Rycroft said. "I guess he started helping me with fundamentals when I was 10, when I really started to understand what I was doing."

David never persuaded his son to try golf. But he noticed Chris could adapt to the game if he was willing to learn it.

"He's always had the ability and potential," David said.

Rycroft hopes that talent will extend to improving his short game. He wants to enter the Sept. 28 Cardinal District meet knowing that sinking a five-foot putt for birdie, par or even bogey will be simple.

He spent an hour at Osprey last Saturday putting and chipping to mentally prepare himself for any upcoming situations in which he may have to sink a short putt to help his team.

"Confidence is a huge part of those short putts," said Rycroft, whose older brother Nathan is a former Woodbridge golfer. "For me, it's all about getting the ball in the back of the cup. It's all about me knowing I can make this putt.

"Sergio Garcia said after one of his tournaments is that he thinks about putts he's made in the past. If I'm sitting there with a three-footer for birdie to win the tournament, it should be no different than a three-footer I had last hole for bogey.

"If you think you can make the putt, you can make the putt."

Staff writer Robert Daski can be reached at 703-878-8049.